Tomahawk heads Curragh opener

The Irish flat-racing season gets under way at The Curragh on Sunday with Tomahawk heading a field of seven 3-year-olds in the seven-furlong Loughbrown Stakes.

An Aidan O'Brien-trained son of Seattle Slew, Tomahawk will be making his first start since he finished eighth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He also was second last year in a pair of British Group 1 races, the Middle Park Stakes and the Dewhurst Stakes. Tomahawk is the first of eight O'Brien-trained Triple Crown nominees to start this year.

Another of O'Brien's Triple Crown nominees, Delacroix, was originally listed on the five-day entries for the Loughbrown but will not run. Tomahawk could be tested by the Gerard Keane-trained Chappel Cresent, who was a neck second to Van Nistelrooy in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes on Aug. 24.- Alan Shuback